Jay, have you checked the mechanics? I have a similar vintage HP drive (HP
2870A - OEM was Iomec) which had
a mechanical spring-loaded mechanism for unloading the heads. I found that
my was pretty gummy with old
lubricant, and had to clean it up / degrease it before it would operate
properly. (Fortunately for me, I recognized
this _before_ I loaded the heads the first time.
Jay Jaeger
>
>So, this time I powered up and hit load. Waited 30 seconds, heard the heads
>move out to cylinder 0. Ran drive like this for about 3 minutes, no problem.
>Hit unload. When I removed the removable cartridge, I noticed the heads
>weren't quite retracted all the way. They were well off the media, but not
>all the way back home (the heads weren't touching each other, but they were
>close). Manually pushed the heads back, rechecked everything I could find.
>Repowered up the drive, after 30 seconds the heads loaded. Drive ready lite
>comes on and ran for about 15 minutes. No HDI sounds at all. I was elated.
>Hit unload, and after about 20 seconds heard very soft HDI. This time I left
>the cartridge in, powered everything off, removed the covers, and this time
>the heads weren't retracted at all. They were sitting right on the media.
>Strange thing is, there's no marks on the media, the lower heads I replaced
>look pristine, and the upper heads have only the very slightest indication
>of oxide.
>
---
Jay R. Jaeger The Computer Collection
Jay.Jaeger_at_msn.fullfeed.com visit
http://www.msn.fullfeed.com/~cube
Received on Sat Sep 18 1999 - 19:27:58 BST